EMI are finding out that the golden-days when people went out and re-bought the same item again on CD has long since gone (year-on-year cd sale drops). Perhaps the majors will shrink down even more in the years to come.

Seems we are in an era of famous-for-one-year artists singing cover versions (X-Factor springs to mind), with a reduction of actual singer song writers who work their way up from the bottom (any of the great bands from yesteryear).

It still totally astounds me that for the vast majority of music, if I want to buy an album, I still have to order it via somewhere like Amazon and await the CD to arrive before I can rip it. It's amazing that these major companies have no facilities for me to buy a lossless version of album I seek, download it and play it right now (which is precisely when I want to hear it; not sometime next week).

It also amazes me that they have spent years trying to work out what to do about problems of file sharing and sites like Pirate Bay. Personally, I don't use these sites, but how tempting is it when the album you wish to hear (right now) is available as a FLAC file torrent (maybe in less than an hour); if you really do wish to hear it right now, that's often the only option available as there are simply no legal ways for you to buy it. Add to that the issue of back-catalogue stuff being dropped (but sometimes available via torrent) and you start to wonder what sort of commercial model these music companies are working to; maybe they found it in a Corn Flakes packet, or maybe it popped out of a Christmas cracker?

Okay, not everyone in the entire world yet has a Linn DS player (come on Gilad, get more DS players sold ) but when you think about it, dBpoweramp has a totally excellent utility where you can drag and drop the FLAC album and it converts it to the appropriate CD format and burns the CDR for you; all on one easy step. If I owned a major label, I'd make the back catalogue available as FLAC, then have a free downloadable utility similar to the dBpoweramp 'CD Writer' (come on Spoon, get out there and flog that utility to the record companies ) to cover the existing CD market. They could even offer this facility with an option to send the real CD via the post (maybe even for a small amount extra; there are tonnes of innovative commercial models that could be considered).

Basically, there must be something fundamentally wrong when you think that there are people who want to buy the music, and are sitting in front of their PC with their credit card in their hand, but find that they just can't! I can only assume that this is because parts of the music industry are still being run by people who are living in the dark age. Maybe they think that all this new-fangled rock and roll music is just a brief passing phase and that all this Internet stuff will maybe just 'go away' if they stick their heads deep enough into the sand; someone please buy these poor guys a snorkel.

(2011-02-03 19:22)Briain Wrote: It still totally astounds me that for the vast majority of music, if I want to buy an album, I still have to order it via somewhere like Amazon and await the CD to arrive before I can rip it. It's amazing that these major companies have no facilities for me to buy a lossless version of album I seek, download it and play it right now (which is precisely when I want to hear it; not sometime next week).

The mass market does not care about lossless. 256kbps non-DRM is just perfect for them and that is what Amazon offers. It also lets people simply copy that file to their mp3 players and not worry about running out of storage space.

People like us are not even on their radar. We are a very small minority, unfortunately.

Thanks to dbpoweramp and accurate rip, I am able to save money by buying used CDs and getting clean rips.

I dont understand why there is so much demand for high-end video products (TVs, bluray players) but so little for audio.

I can't understand why the music industry is so slow to grab the bull by the horns regarding CD quality (and above) official downloads.

They have been complaining for years about falling CD sales etc. and are always painting a picture of the death of "music" as artists won't make any money, therefore they are all going to stop writing and recording. Bo***cks!

They are just frightened that artists are going to stop making THEM money. Surely in the future the only thing musicians are going to need are the funds to access recording facilities. Get your album made, and your away. The distribution has had all the barriers removed; no need for facilities to make LP's and CD's. No transport and storage costs beyond what is required to make it available on line as a download. You could either set up your own company or allow whoever you choose to distribute it. To me it seems like the door is now open to independent record labels with the vision, and artists who are prepared to do it for themselves to find a new way of getting music out there.

The only thing I can see major companies being able to do in the future is the marketing; surely most of their income is thanks to being able to hype up total dross and get millions of people to buy it. I suppose it is all going to depend on how rich and famous the artist wants to be whether they feel the need to be tied to a major label.

I know this is a bit of a rant, but I've only had my DS for a few months and it has made a big difference to the whole experience of listening to and accessing music. I am baffled that the people running the industry haven't woken up to the future.

And why is it that VHS to DVD to BLURAY was sold on improvements to quality, and that music has started to go from LP to CD to MP3 and sold on convenience? Why can't the major players in the industry start marketing quality? Surely with products like the DS that are capable of very high quality reproduction, and the fact that all the technology to make music available as download is in place, the big companies with the big back catalogue should take the plunge and shout about the quality of the downloads.

I think I must get wound up too easily whenever I see the X factor and other manufactured rubbish that is driven by the mass music industry - so I'll shut up and go away now.

(2011-02-03 20:24)stunta Wrote: The mass market does not care about lossless. 256kbps non-DRM is just perfect for them and that is what Amazon offers. It also lets people simply copy that file to their mp3 players and not worry about running out of storage space.

People like us are not even on their radar. We are a very small minority, unfortunately.

Hi

Yes indeed, and that's why I was suggesting that they could have had a downloadable utility to burn an 'original quality' CDR for the folks who wanted to simply obtain the CD and play it on their CD players right away (with the option to have the real one sent at a later date). This could have been rolled out several years ago (on the tail of broadband availability) and sold as a fast way to obtain your desired new album at 'full CD quality'. It could have been heavily sold as such on their web sites and thus maybe generated a market for such sales; we will now never know.

What I'm saying is that I think the industry could very easily have been a lot, lot more innovative (starting a few years ago) and that maybe this previous inability adapt has now come back to haunt them.

(2011-02-03 21:32)Briain Wrote: and sold as a fast way to obtain your desired new album at 'full CD quality'.

And this is what Amazon just rolled out as a beta test in Seattle. But, of course, it is for bluray and not music.

If you buy a bluray disc you can immediately stream it to your computer or Amazon enabled t.v. - like Sony's google tv. So you get instant gratification and later the permanent media.

Once again the music industry is the "red headed step child." As a previous post mentioned, the video industry learned how to market the concept of higher res and higher definition enticing the consumer to re-buy DVDs and TVs ( 3D WTF ). Not the music industry. Ask anyone what is a high end TV, what is a high end car? How about, what is a high end music system "um BOSE right?"

(2011-02-03 21:32)Briain Wrote: and sold as a fast way to obtain your desired new album at 'full CD quality'.

And this is what Amazon just rolled out as a beta test in Seattle. But, of course, it is for bluray and not music.

If you buy a bluray disc you can immediately stream it to your computer or Amazon enabled t.v. - like Sony's google tv. So you get instant gratification and later the permanent media.

Once again the music industry is the "red headed step child." As a previous post mentioned, the video industry learned how to market the concept of higher res and higher definition enticing the consumer to re-buy DVDs and TVs ( 3D WTF ). Not the music industry. Ask anyone what is a high end TV, what is a high end car? How about, what is a high end music system "um BOSE right?"

@seedee
You have the analogy spot on! Great post - couldn't agree more

Spot on indeed. Quality music and quality hifi aren't perceptions that general society has at the moment.

As I read Gilad's blog (before reading all the excellent and thoughtful posts above) it occurred to me why are the "Majors" called the "Majors"?, it seems as if they have become more like the "minors" to Apple.